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Friday, February 16, 2018

The Nicola Sturgeon dilemma, disgraced SNP sex-row minister receives 'golden goodbye', the scandal keeps on growing and Sturgeon refuses to show leadership, what does it say when even an SNP stooge like Humza Yousaf says “perhaps taking more time than it should”, is this a signal that the Sturgeon era is over?

Dear All

Sometime ago, I was blogging on #throbbergate, this is the
story of disgraced former SNP minister Mark McDonald who had to quit
his post over alleged sexual misconduct, the SNP investigation is still
ongoing.

I wonder, and I am sure that others might, does ‘still
ongoing’ mean the SNP want him to quit, if he does go, he would leave public office
in disgrace to make way for Alex Salmond. The next election isn’t till 2021 so
McDonald has a lot to lose in terms of money. It is doubtful he would be
selected as an SNP candidate ever again, too much heat on Nicola Sturgeon, and
sex and politics do make for odd bedfellows if there is any sort of suggestion
someone has over stepped the mark.

After quitting as an SNP sex-row minister, Mark McDonald is
to receive 'golden goodbye' in the shape of a “resettlement grant”. This is an
automatic entitlement with in his case has provoked outrage. He walks away with
£7,270 for quitting as the Scottish Government’s childcare minister after just18
months in post. Clearly the rules are wrong, then the public must speak out, no
one who resigns in those circumstances should be entitled to a penny from the
public purse.

He is effectively getting paid £7,270 after admitting he
caused a woman “considerable distress”.

The opposition parties say that there should be an overhaul
of the law, the Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act of 2009 to stop people receiving
a benefit when leaving Ministerial office in disgrace.

And let’s be clear, Mark McDonald’s case is a sordid nasty
little affair which Nicola Sturgeon tried to dismiss and move quickly on from,
sadly for her, up pops more allegations which forced the SNP to suspend
McDonald from the party.

Operation ‘hang on to a vote’ blew right up in Sturgeon’s
face.

Conservative MSP Alexander Burnett said the payment to Mr
McDonald was “clearly wrong”, and he is 100% right, although someone gets the
cash regardless whether they lost at the ballot box, through ill-health or scandal,
getting paid for causing someone distress is wrong.

Holyrood should consider rewriting the legislation at
the earliest opportunity, however that will not help in McDonald’s case.

Alexander Burnett also said:

“It’s important we look at these processes again to ensure
this isn’t repeated. The public view of the parliament as a whole would worsen
otherwise.”

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant added:

“This is unacceptable. It cannot be right that a minister
who has resigned in such circumstances has effectively received a bonus from
the taxpayer. If Mark McDonald has received this money, he must immediately
return it or donate it to a charity such as Women’s Aid. The Scottish
Parliament must also urgently review the law which allows this money to be
given and appropriately reform it to avoid such circumstances in the future.”

The SNP Government have a habit of rewarding failure, back
in 2010, Stewart Stevenson received a similar-sized grant after quitting as SNP
transport minister; the transport brief is widely regarded as a post for the
really non talented. Following the travel chaos Stevenson returned it to the
parliament.

Mark McDonald is someone who is living on parliamentary borrowed
time, it isn’t a case of if he leaves but when, his career is over completely. Alex
Salmond is breathing down his neck in the wings waiting for his seat, one
wonders if Mark McDonald will be squirreling away as much cash as possible.

If you read his bio, he has been a political hack since he
left university working for various SNP politicians.

As an Independent MSP, he has been absent from Holyrood on
his full MSP pay since resigning, since he isn’t in ill health, he is in hiding.
Of course, one wonders what his staff must be thinking, if I was them I would
be looking at situations vacant because he has put their livelihood in danger,
they don’t have job security.

One thing which I haven’t seen is condemnation by Scottish
Greens leader Patrick Harvie, Harvie has been strangely quiet about this
scandal which is surprising giving his outspoken stance when the Bill Walker
wife beating affair was ‘the thing’.

One wonders if he needs to consult Nicola Sturgeon before
speaking out now given the Scottish Greens are seen as an SNP proxy vote cache.

In January, Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP’s probe, would
“take as long as it takes”, when pressed this week SNP transport minister Humza
Yousaf blurted out the inquiry was “perhaps taking more time than it should”.

Is this a dig at Nicola Sturgeon?

Finally, the SNP made a huge deal about protecting women in
politics, at the first hurdle Nicola Sturgeon has been found wanting, why did
Nicola Sturgeon not act more swiftly?

13 comments:

Most of these weirdo’s seem to be employed directly or in-directly by the tax payer. Mps, msp's, charity pounces, and children home wardens; to name a few. Obvious those successful via nepotism don’t require much in references.

should this not be passed onto the police to deal with? How long does it take to investigate, surely 100days is long enough, oh but I forgot it would get in the way of indy ref 2. Why would he think of returning the money when Salmond kept £29000 resettlement grant despite staying in politics. Wish someone gave me a resettlement grant when I moved out of the merchant navy and oil industry to help me adjust to life outside my chosen career.

you say its a law that doesnt take account of the reason for leaving, you say changing it now won't affect the guys payout, you quote Tory and Labour members saying the law needs to change, you quote Humza Yousaf saying they're doing something about it

and yet at the end of the article you still find a way to blame Nicola Sturgeon 0_o

what exactly are you expecting her to do:!) tell the future 2) break the law3) go back in time and change the law4) magically change the law in record time with a semi-autonomous parliament

you say its a law that doesnt take account of the reason for leaving, you say changing it now won't affect the guys payout, you quote Tory and Labour members saying the law needs to change, you quote Humza Yousaf saying they're doing something about it

and yet at the end of the article you still find a way to blame Nicola Sturgeon 0_o

what exactly are you expecting her to do:

!) tell the future 2) break the law3) go back in time and change the law4) magically change the law in record time with a semi-autonomous parliament

Firstly, I don’t expect her to tell the future, she has enough problems coping with the present.

Secondly, of course, I don’t advocate breaking the law,that would be silly.

Thirdly, time travel hasn’t been invented, and it is doubtful it can ever be.

I'm quite sure emergency legislation would be quite easy to enact by citing circumstances in which the grant is not paid. This guy is probably going to trouser his salary for the next 3 years and do bugger all. I take it that there isn't an attendance based criteria for drawing a salary if not there should be. At Westminster as well more to the point.